Web 101
Laura Herbert
Assignment 1: Short Question & Answers
Please answer all of the following questions. Each answer should be a paragraph in length, and the maximum total word length for the assignment is 750 words.
(1)What is the Internet?
The internet consists of multiple networks interconnected i.e. an enormous group of computers networked worldwide providing communication and information to one another either by packet transfers or via TCP/IP (transmission control/internet protocol). The computers are all linked via various means of communication hardware connections e.g. wireless, cable, telephone lines, satellite etc which are directly or indirectly linked to a server. The Internet is not the World Wide Web but the foundation on which the Web and other protocols run.
- (2)What is the World Wide Web?
The World Wide Web (WWW) is an amalgamation of software and hardware that makes use of the internet. Before the WWW, it was mainly text based and users needed to know basic UNIX commands to be able send and retrieve messages. Based on this platform there are pages (web pages) that contain images, texts, sounds and videos that are hyper texted or hyperlinked together like a web and thus viewed utilising a client called a web browser. According to Web 101 Communications and Collaborations Online (Curtin 2010),' the World Wide Web constitutes the everyday public face of the internet'.
(3)What is the relationship between the World Wide Web and the Internet?
The relationship between the World Wide Web and the internet is within the infrastructure. The World Wide Web allows you to access shared information over the internet. As long as a computer is connected to the internet it then becomes part of an intricate web that utilises HTTP, hyper text transfer protocol (amongst other languages) to transmit data and allow applications to communicate (web sites etc), share and exchange information (hypertext and hyperlinks). Basically the WWW sits on top of the internet and runs consecutively.
(4)What are three purported differences between the World Wide Web as it first emerged, and the more recent Web 2.0?
Web 1.0, a retronym term, tended to be read only, static web pages with no active communication flow from reader to author. Content was designed for dial up modems (slow kilobytes, slow page loading) that presented minimal stylistic elements and usually could only be designed by someone who had knowledge of web writing languages. Whereas Web 2.0 (O'Reilly 2003) in the age of high speed broadband, is a term describing what the World Wide Web is today that affords a "read- write" culture. It is dynamic with rich content, interactive between reader and author. Pages are dynamically generated and content can be added and removed without any HTML programming skills. This means users can generate and publish with assisted help from well developed web based tools e.g. blogs, Facebook, Flickr, Bebo and many other interactive community based sites.
(5)What is RSS and why is it significant to Web 2.0?
R.S.S (Really Simple Syndication) – web feed, views the content of a webpage and allows it to become available to users independently of that page/site. Utilising a dedicated reader this allows the viewer to stay up to date with new content that has been added to the site without actually having to revisit the site (this could be from social networking sites e.g. Facebook, Bebo to Apple's iTunes. The use is limitless.) With Web 2.0 coming to prominence, the use of RSS has steamrolled and as such it has become an indispensible platform aiding in delivering the content of applications to a fast evolving web and world.
Reference
Web 101 iLecture 'What is the internet'. (Re-viewed Sunday 26th Sept. 2010)
Web 101 iLecture "and what is the World Wide Web" (Re-viewed Sunday 26th Sept 2010)
What Is the Internet (And What Makes It Work) - December, 1999
By Robert E. Kahn and Vinton G. Cerf
http://www.cnri.reston.va.us/what_is_internet.html (viewed Sunday 26th Sept 2010)
Weaving the Web Berners-Lee http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/Weaving/glossary.html (viewed 26th Sept 2010)
UNIX: Definition: A multi-user operating system that was used to create most of the programs and protocols that built the Internet.
Retronym is a new name for an object or concept to differ from the original form or version of it from a more recent form or version (Wikipedia 2010) (Curtin University Web 101 information) In other words a future look at a step back in time in terminology.
The Rimm-Kaufman group http://www.rimmkaufman.com/rkgblog/2007/04/27/web2-vs-web1/ (sighted 26th Sept 2010)
Curtin University Web Communications 101: Communication and Collaboration Online Module 2 introduction. What is Web 2.0
